Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to methods and apparatuses to support tubular members. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to apparatuses that are used to support one or more tubular members, such as oilfield tubular members as the tubular members are disposed downhole.
Background Art
In oilfield exploration and production operations, various oilfield tubular members are used to perform important tasks, including, but not limited to, drilling the wellbore and casing a drilled wellbore. For example, a long assembly of drill pipes, known in the industry as a drill string, may be used to rotate a drill bit at a distal end to create the wellbore. Furthermore, after a wellbore has been created, a casing string may be disposed downhole into the wellbore and cemented in place to stabilize, reinforce, or isolate (among other functions) portions of the wellbore. As such, strings of drill pipe and casing may be connected together, such as end-to-end by threaded connections, in which a female “pin” member of a first tubular member is configured to threadably engage a corresponding male “box” member of a second tubular member. Alternatively, a casing string may be made-up of a series of male-male ended casing joints coupled together by female-female couplers. The process by which the threaded connections are assembled is called “making-up” a threaded connection, and the process by which the connections are disassembled is referred to “breaking-out” the threaded connection. As would be understood by one having ordinary skill, individual pieces (or “joints”) of oilfield tubular members may come in a variety of weights, diameters, configurations, and lengths.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, multiple perspective views are shown of a drilling rig 101 used to run one or more tubular members 111 (e.g., casing, drill pipe, etc.) downhole into a wellbore. As shown, the drilling rig 101 includes a frame structure known as a “derrick” 102, from which a traveling block 103 and a lifting apparatus 105 (e.g., an elevator), a supporting apparatus 107 (e.g., slip assembly or spider), and/or a top drive 145, if present (shown in FIG. 1B), may be used to manipulate (e.g., raise, lower, rotate, hold, etc.) a tubular member 111. The traveling block 103 is a device that is suspended from at or near the top of the derrick 102, in which the traveling block 103 may move up-and-down (i.e., vertically as depicted) to raise and/or lower the tubular member 111. The traveling block 103 may be a simple “pulley-style” block and may have a hook from which objects below (e.g., lifting apparatus 105 and/or top drive) may be suspended.
Additionally, the lifting apparatus 105 may be coupled below the traveling block 103 and/or the top drive 145 to selectively support and/or release a tubular member 111 as the tubular member 111 is to be raised and/or lowered within and from the derrick 102. As such, and as shown in FIG. 1B, the drilling rig 101 may include one or more guiding rails 108 and/or a track disposed adjacent to the top drive 145, in which the guiding rails 108 or track may be used to support and guide the top drive 145 (e.g., from which the lifting apparatus 105 may be suspended) as the top drive 145 is raised and/or lowered within the derrick 102. An example of a top drive is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,596, filed on Aug. 3, 1982, and entitled “Drilling of Wells with Top Drive Unit,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The lifting apparatus 105 may include one or more movable engagement members (e.g., slip assemblies), in which the members may be attached to the lifting apparatus 105 and movable between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position, the lifting apparatus 105 supports the tubular member 111 such that the tubular member 111 may be lifted and/or lowered. In the open position, the lifting apparatus 105 may release the tubular member 111 and move away therefrom to allow the tubular member 111 to be engaged with or removed from the lifting apparatus 105 and/or the supporting apparatus 107. For example, the lifting apparatus 105 may release the tubular member 111 after the tubular member 111 is threadably connected to a tubular string 115 and/or supported by the supporting apparatus 107 of the drilling rig 101.
Further, in FIG. 1B, in which the drilling rig 101 includes a top drive 145 having link (e.g., bail) ears supporting lifting apparatus 105 (e.g., an elevator) through links (e.g., bails) therebetween. The supporting apparatus 107 of the drilling rig 101 may be used to support the tubular string 115, such as by having gripping and/or supporting engagement with the tubular string 115, from the drilling rig 101, e.g., supported by the rig floor 109 or by a rotary table thereof. The supporting apparatus 107 may be disposed within (e.g., be supported by) the rig floor 109, such as flush with the rig floor 109, may extend (e.g., be supported by) above the rig floor 109, as shown, and/or may be supported otherwise by the drilling rig, such as suspended from a component of the drilling rig. As such, the supporting apparatus 107 may be used to suspend the tubular string 115, e.g., while one or more tubular members 111 are connected or disconnected from the tubular string 115.
A reverse process, or one similar to the process described above, may be used, such as to remove one or more tubular members 111 from the drilling rig 101. As such, when removing a tubular member 111 from the drilling rig 101, the tubular string 115 may be raised into the derrick 102 to have the tubular member 111 extending above the supporting apparatus 107 and rotary table 109. The supporting apparatus 107 may be used to support the remainder of the downhole string 115 below the rotary table 109, in which the tubular member 111 may be threadably disconnected from the downhole string 115. For example, the supporting apparatus 107 may support the tubular member 111 and the top drive 145, and/or another other component, such as tubular tongs, may rotate the tubular member 111 to threadably disconnect the tubular member 111 from the downhole string 115. The lifting apparatus 105, or other mechanism or device, may transport the tubular member 111 out of the derrick 102 of the drilling rig 101, e.g., to have the tubular member 111 placed upon the pipe rack 112.
As such, a string of tubular members may be heavy, in the magnitude of several hundreds of thousands of pounds. The lifting and supporting apparatuses handling these tubular strings, in addition to the drilling rig and other components thereof, must be equipped to handle such weight. Accordingly, there may exist a need to increase the ability of one or more components of the drilling rig, particularly the lifting and supporting apparatus, to safely and securely lift and support tubular members.